I profile. For the safety of myself and my family, I make judgment calls many, many times a day.
Deciding what’s right and what’s wrong in life is something we all do. When I see an individual wearing his baggy pants down to his waist with his underwear showing and the hood from his sweater pulled over his head walking stiff-legged, I judge him as a gangbanger, or at the very least a wannabe gangbanger. Either way, the individual is expressing a lifestyle that I do not condone — a lifestyle of crime and violence.
I commend the city of Tracy for finally admitting that we have a gang problem. What disappointed me about the Tuesday City Council meeting was that they opened with saying how safe the city is. This tells me that they still don’t think it’s as bad as the people of Tracy know it is.
Statistics can be and usually are misleading. Statistics should be used to support an argument, not prove a position. Sure, the city in the early part of 2009 had less crime, but the trend since then has been way up. Yet, overall, it looks fine on paper.
One thing that caught my eye was the fact that Livermore was No. 14 on the list. Livermore does have a bad area, but there is no way you could ever convince me that Tracy is safer than Livermore.
To call the violence lately a spike is once again not wanting to face the new reality of what is taking place in our city. How do you think the families of the people who were killed or had a violent crime committed against them feel about being grouped into a category of a “spike”? I’m sure they feel that there is a problem in this city and it should be dealt with using some of the tactics that were brought up by a few of the citizens at the meeting.
Address the problem at the source. Make life uncomfortable for these thugs and don’t let up.
Of course, the issue of finances is always a concern, especially in these times. To this I say it’s too bad that the city didn’t have the foresight to — instead of spending tens of millions of dollars fixing up downtown for people who never go there — be proactive and use the money to hire more personnel to fight the problem we are now being forced to deal with.
Oh, but wait, we didn’t have a gang problem until now. Unbelievable.
I just wonder where this idea originated.
Meant low in the past two years. The recent surge in gang violence was the result of transient gang activity and retaliations.
That's not to say that gangs are not here. Nobody would ever say something like that. And nobody ever did.
The TPD also sought additional funding to beef up the task force. They were also talking about cross training patrol officers in the face of uncertainty regarding union negotiations.
That has now been resolved.
Another point is that TPD knew that the documented gang mambers went from about 150 to 600.
They also knew that the gang violence has been low and that gang activity was a result of transient gang activity. The TPD was also working with other police agencies to deter gang violence and activity.
I don't think it's fair to say they were going to completely eliminate the gang task force or even that the problem was worse than the city admits.
All of the above information was made publically available.
But, all of the above information was NOT printed in the Tracy Press.
So, you would have had to dig a little deeper.
If the city (not the Police Department) knows it has a gang problem, then why were they going to cut the gang task force?
All that's left is to reach out to stupid parents. Thats the root cause of the problem with crime. But apparently it's easier for parents to blame the police for these parent problems.
Parents are acting like gang bangers and even worse because they don't operate like what the Police called street terrorists. The paper shows they've become a fabric of our society. Their gang sign is simply the sign of our own modern society.
And that's even worse than a gang.
This letter ignores two obvious facts.
First, nobody at the city ever said there is not a gang problem. I know that for a fact. At the Coffee with a Cop several cops told several Tracy citizens STRAIGHT UP that Tracy had gangs. All cities do and they never said otherwise. I asked them and got the right answers from the TPD.
Second, while it is certainly true that gangs contributed to crime, most of the crime happened by stupid parents as illustrated below.
* Father who installed a chain on the fireplace.
* Mother who put an ash-tray where it out not.
* Father who works on your nose and - yikes more.
* Mother who showed us what a "mother" really is.
* Father who loves hip-hop and keeps it real.
* ***
TPD...profile all you want, you'll get no opposition from me. If it looks like a duck and quacks, it's got to be a duck.
To illustrate. Let's say your local PD has received a description of a POS and that sketch is now been published on the TV NEWS....
Now. Are we supposed to mill about with our hands in our pocket? Because we have a description of someone and if we followed that lead, that by nature, would be, goodness forbid, "profiling"?
According to some it would be a horrible crime for the police to even walk the parks looking for the POS. Does that make any sense. Maybe only to a sleazey ALUC lawyer who wants another buck and isn't doing much for society, but knows that the legal system is full of loopholes for him.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_14167309?source=rss
So, look around you CanI, before you leave the house, look in the mirror. If you can say to yourself, Nope I am dressed decently(meaning, no one can see my drawers hangin out), can i walk a full step w/o my pants getting it the way, Is my hat on straight, am I not sporting a disproportionate amount of red or blue. Do I look normal. Is my head shaved... am I wearing tan dickies w/ a wife beater t-shirt and my collar button only the top two buttons.... No, ok.. than i probably wont get profiled. Now, CanIsay.. If you are concerned about profiling... then you might want to look at WHY... If 80% of the violent crimes are committed by a certain race... doesn't it stand to reason, we should be wary of that particular race...dressed in particular way? Being a white male, I wouldnt take offense being pulled over by the cops if let's say a bunch of white guys were shooting it up around town.. why, because i didnt do anything wrong.. and if the cops want to take some time to talk to me to be sure I'm not one of those shooters or criminals.. then ok.. no biggie.. are they profiling.. yes.. are they stopping black or hispanics looking for the shooters?.. Nope.. just all the white guys.. why.. because witnesses say.. a white guy did it.. now just exchange races... it's the same.. Like I said below. Bad doesn't pick a color.. but why are our prisons and jails disproportionately full of criminals that aren't white? Notice I said disproportionately.. is it because other the white guys are doing the same crimes but not getting caught?... nope.. us whiteys get caught too.. there are plenty in jail.. hmmm is it because there are MORE of other races than white... nope.. we're still the majority... barely.. hmmm MAYBE it's because there are more nonwhites committing serious crimes, in gangs, and just doing bad things. If you are a nice, friendly, upstanding citizen, a good person that does good things.. I can care LESS what your color is. You can be purple and i'll be your friend. If you think I'm racist, than you need to check the definition. I'm a REALIST. So, if you are out there at Mc park or walkin the streets around town and dressing the part of a banger... don't bitch if you get harassed. Go home and get some "appropriate" adult attire and no one will bother you. In fact, you might make a friend with the fire chief. He needs a couple right now with his recent decisions...
xboxwife - I grew up in South Side right next to McDonalds park and I have never been in a gang. I go there alot and walk my dog im not a gang member. You probably know nothing about that side of town. The Fire Chief lives directly across the street and I see him at the park alot..Is he a gang member? There you go....profiling AGAIN!
Now, if you are sitting there watching your kids drinking coffee and are wearing normal adult attire then these stare downs are inappropriate. If not, and you are not making it obvious that you are attached to the children playing, then I also might wonder why you are in the park. Until your child walks up or interacts w/ you I wouldnt know why you are there. After that, I wouldn't be the least bit concerned about you. Until then, my safety radar is up. Same goes for a white guy sitting in a park full of kids alone. Until one of his children interact with him, i'd be profiling him as a child molester. You know why.. because a majority of serial killers and child kidnappers/molesters are white males. Bad comes in all colors and sizes. We, the good and honest, need not to act the part of bad unless we want to be assumed as bad. When I am at the park w/ my child, I interact with my child and the people around me as to not make anyone uncomfortable as to why I am there. I am a law abiding citizen, never been in trouble with the law, but if I was hanging out in a park alone, watching other kids play and some woman thought I was alone being a creep, I wouldnt take offense to her staring me down to figure out who I am and why I'm there. I would understand her point of view and her concern for the safety of her child. So if someone is staring, give them a reason NOT to. Be FRIENDLY, be easy going and approachable. Be nice and if they still are wary of you, well then maybe take a long look at yourself and figure out why. It may be them, it might just be you or both.
If I saw someone dressed like a gangbanger at a gangbanger hangout, regardless of race, I would assume they are or want to be a gangbanger. And I would be very wary. Hope my ranting makes sense... doesn't mean you have to agree, just a different point of view.
I saw where you wrote.
"Statistics can be and usually are misleading. Statistics should be used to support an argument, not prove a position. Sure, the city in the early part of 2009 had less crime, but the trend since then has been way up. Yet, overall, it looks fine on paper."
The stats are in no way misleading. The problem is because Tracy is statistically a "safe" city we cannot get federal funding.
I hope you will write your Congressman Jerry McNerney. Personally, I already tried to call him about healthcare and got a recorded message. I even left a message.
But somehow I can't help but wonder if they simply sell your phone number.
Because I have been getting a lot of telephone solicitors since then.
I would not let my kids go to McDonlad Park, But I do let them go to the mall. I don't think its that bad, yet. But I don't let my kids go alone and not at night, just in case.
A couple times my child has had to walk home from school past McDonald Park and I make them call me at several checkpoints before and after that area. I hope bigunc you and your kids stay safe there. I woul not be comfortable there at all.
Yes, there is trash from all races. I think we are all just on high alert right now and we all need to work together to educate and love our children while at the same time get tough on our criminals. Make it uncomfortable for them to live here. To do that there will be some unfortunate side effects. We will just have to weather the storm. Hopefully we can run these guys out of town!
That's little comfort, but what you don't know (and the Tracy Press never printed that I am aware of) is that the our Tracy Police Department that is supposed to protect us applied for Congressional District 11 funding to deal with gangs right before it happened.
Unfortunately (in our 11th Congressional District the TPD were told that we were too "safe" of a city to recieve funding.
That's why the Police Chief was trying to tell you people. She couldn't come right out and say it. "Where the hell is your Congressman?"
She couldn't ask you to write your Congressman or ask you directly. What is our Congressman doing about that - for Tracy, CA? Writing a bill to fix it?
To make Tracy, CA safer in the 11th Congressional District?
Or nada?